Biden: Americans will join training of Ukrainians on F-16s

President Joe Biden told G7 leaders on Friday that the United States will support efforts to train Ukrainian pilots in modern aircraft, including the F-16.

Source. This was reported by CNN with reference to a senior administration official.

According to the official, joint exercises will not be conducted in the United States and will most likely be held exclusively in Europe. But U.S. personnel will participate in the exercises along with allies and partners, the official said. It is expected to take several months.

"As the training takes place in the coming months, our coalition of countries will decide when to provide (Ukraine) with the aircraft, how many we will provide and which other countries will provide them," the official said.

The official added that so far, the US has been focused mainly on providing Kyiv with the weapons, equipment and training it needs as soon as possible for an expected counteroffensive.

"Discussions about improving the Ukrainian Air Force reflect our long-term commitment to Ukraine's self-defense," the official said.

In recent weeks, the Biden administration has made it clear to European allies that the United States will allow them to export F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, sources familiar with the talks told CNN, although the United States still does not want to send its own F-16s to Ukraine.

According to the newspaper, in March, the United States hosted two Ukrainian pilots at a military base in Tucson, Arizona, to assess their skills in using flight simulators and how long it would take them to learn to fly various US military aircraft, including the F-16. Congress has allocated money in the 2023 budget for such training.

Earlier it became known that the United Kingdom and the Netherlands want to form an "international coalition" not only to purchase aircraft for Ukraine, but also to train Ukrainian pilots on new generation fighters.